Language Flashcards
Language is….
complex
What is the psychology of language called
psycholinguistics
Psycholinguistics operational definition
the study of psychological and neurobiological factors that help us acquire, produce, perceive, use, and understand language
Psycholinguistics focuses on (what gives rise to language)
cognitive processes
-attention, memory, perception, learning, thinking
brain structures
-visual and auditory cortex; wernicke’s (how we understand words) and broca’s areas (how we generate words)
What is the operational definition of Language; includes
a system of communication that is composed of symbols that are arranged in a set of rules (grammar)to form meaningful expressions
includes written, spoken, and visual
Properties of Language
1) symbolic
2) semantic
3) infinitely generative
4) recursive
Components of Language
1) Phoneme
2) Morpheme
Structure of Language
1) Heirarchial
2) Syntax
Symbolic
auditory and visual icons are combined to represent objects, ideas, experiences
-the assignment of a symbol is arbitrary: meaning commonly agreed on
Properties of Language
Semantic
Symbolic combinations carry meaning
- the meaning of the word, phrase or sentence
- this makes language tricky because knowing what meaning exactly is hard since the same word can have different meanings (barney, movie, prehistoric dinosaur)
Properties of Language
Infinitely Generative
a limited number symbols can be combined in a infinite number of ways; no limit in combinations of limited number of symbols
-This allows creation of new words
Properties of Language
Recursive
new ideas can continuously being nested if it follows the rules; new ideas can be nested into a sentence; unlimited number of grammatical sentences are possible
Properties of Language
Phoneme
the smallest linguistic unit of speech sounds
- different languages use different phoneme
- English uses constants and vowels
- has no meaning on its own
Components of Language
Morpheme
smallest linguistic unit of speech meaning
eg. root words, suffix, prefix
- THEY ARE UNBREAKABLE
Components of Language
Heirarchical
a series of smaller of components are combined to make larger units
phonemes–>. morphemes —> words—-> phrases —> sentences —–> thoughts/ideas
Structure of Language
Syntax
Arbitrary rules that govern how sounds/words are put together
e. g grammar
- dictates how sounds and symbols can and cannot be combined
what influences semantics
- syntax
- how is the message conveyed - context
- what when where why you referring to - culture
- does the message mean the same thing as it does to me to you
Syntax and semantics
how you word/order words influences how it is interpreted
Candy would like a piece of you or would you like a piece of candy
context and semantics
a word can be used in different contexts
“I CAUGHT the bus” “ I CAUGHT a cold”
culture and semantics
environment in which you are raised influences how you interpret meaning
“auntie”
Speech perception
humans can process up to 50 phonemes
continuous flow of sound perceived as discrete items
-influenced by experience/expertise and visual sense
McGurk Effect
- incongruent auditory and visual signals after speech perception
- this demonstrates how visual cues can influence what we hear
What did Noam Chomsky propose
Language Acquisition Device
Language Acquisition Device
an innate (cognitive) mechanism facilitates the learning of language; our brain is preprogrammed
What did Noam Chomsky argue
- Argued that there is a universal course of language development; we all learn language the same way
- argued that nature and nurture are important for language development ; brain has the blueprints (nature) while experience builds the final product (nurture)
Language development
months; language milestone
1-3 months
-reflexive communication (crying) and cooing; pre language; no phonemes
7-8 months
-babbling (phonemes) and segmentation (babbling in burst)
10-13 months
- basic utterances and first words
- mama,dada
12-18 months
- basic sentences and telegraphic speech
- formulate ideas but omit modifiers
Language Acquisition
critical periods: developmental periods where a skill is most easily acquired
-infants can distinguish between and produce phonemes of all languages; ability is lost by 12 months (1 year)
Broca’s area
responsible for language production; generating words
Broca’s Aphasia
damage to Broca’s area; have trouble speaking; generating speech Is difficult; “tip of the tongue” experience every time
Wernicke’s Area
responsible for language comprehension
Wernicke’s Aphasia
damage to Wernicke’s Area; have trouble understanding; does not understand question; producing language is good but words are meaningless
